Saturday, January 20, 2007

I stitched these two pieces for my DH's parents soon after we gotmarried I think. They'd moved from their house to a new condo andI stitched these to be hung there, possibly as a Christmas gift or forsome other special occasion. I just gave them the stitched piecesand let them choose the frames to suit the place that they woulddecide to hang them in. My Mom-in-law passed away from breastcancer about 13 years ago now, and Dad-in-law followed her justover a year later. When packing up the condo we took back thesepieces and they are now hanging in our bathroom.

They are from a Dimensions chart called Romantic Roses and thedesigner is Linda Gillum. Publishing date of chart is around 1988.Very pastel, delicate projects, trimmed with lace and framed in gold.Cheerful, easy projects.

Last evening was a party for the church choir that DH belongs to.Instead of having it at Christmas, which is always hectic and busy foreveryone, they started having it in January, when things have settleddown. It's an easy, pot luck affair with about 20 - 30 people attending.The food is always delicious and every year I keep saying that theyshould pool their recipes and print a cook book. The party is at adifferent couples house every year too, which is only fair.

Not a late night though because DH had to be up in good time thismorning to attend the men's breakfast at the church. Every thirdSaturday each month a group of the men from the church gather tocook themselves a large, fancy breakfast and to enjoy some good foodand fellowship.

I was saddened to hear today that Denny Doherty of the Mamas and thePappas died after a short illness. He was born in Halifax, but wasliving near Toronto at the time of his death. He was only 66. I love theMamas and the Pappas music, and the wonderful harmonies that theymade, and Denny was my favourite. A great voice, a great sense ofhumour and a very Canadian view of fame and success. I wish himpeace.

Monday, January 15, 2007

This sampler was stitched by my Mom for DH and I when we gotmarried. Its from the same Better Homes and Gardens book thatI got my pink sampler, and my log cabin sampler from. So I'vereally gotten my money's worth from that book.

This is a lovely piece, beautifully stitched by my Mom. Her maincraft things were needlepoint and plate painting, doing only a coupleof small cross stitch projects and two medium sized ones. Shedoesn't do needlework any more because of her bad back, but she hasrediscovered knitting and loves to do that.

The second picture shows the piece framed and hanging in ourliving room. This picture was taken last fall, which is why you can seeall the Halloween/Autumn decorations scattered around. The framedpieces hanging on either side of the cross stitch are embroideredpostcards from the first world war. Six were from my family, and sixI picked up during one of my trips to England. They are so lovely anddelicate, and I've got a different one for each special occasion.

I'm taking a day off of work today because Winter has officially (finally)arrived here and we're experiencing either snow, or freezing rain, orsnow pellets depending on where you live. Here, north west of Toronto,we are getting a bit of freezing rain, but mainly snow pellets. Torontois getting mostly freezing rain, and east of the city they are getting snow.I don't like to take time off work just because of the weather, but whenthe trip to work, and the trip home are likely to take almost as long asthe time I spend actually working (5 1/2 hours) then it's just not worth it.

So I'm spending part of the day doing chores, and part of it on thecomputer, and part will be spent cross stitching. I should finish eithermy Prairie Schooler Prairie Garden, or the red snowflake sampler, butI have the itch to start a new project. Should I resist or should I give in?I've seen many stitchers noting in their blogs that they've allowed them-selves a new start for New Years, regardless of how many WIP's they mighthave in progress.

DH and I spent the weekend packing away Christmas, and giving theliving room a good clean. Every year, while packing away box after boxof decorations and ornaments, DH complains that we're running out ofstorage space and there's no more room to put it all. And telling methat I've got to quit bringing new stuff home. But every year he managesto jam it all into the allotted space somehow.

Rupert has developed a taste for Listerine mouthwash! He keeps gettinginto the linen cupboard where I store the big bottle, jumps onto theshelf, arranges himself on the towels stacked behind the bottle, andproceeds to sniff and then lick the outside of the bottle neck. I have tokeep chasing him away and then wash the bottle neck. I figure that itmust be the alcohol content, because when I use the non-alcohol typeof mouth wash he doesn't bother. He likes shampoo too. But for thathe prefers to wait until we're in bed, and then he gnaws on our heads/hair. Does anybody else's cats do this sort of thing?

Friday, January 12, 2007

Hmm. I'm going to have to work on learning how to take picturesof my cross stitch projects so that they turn out fairly true to theoriginal colours of the threads used, and are also in focus. I was soeager to type this post however that I couldn't wait for daylight totake the pictures.

Anyways, here is my first finish of 2007. It's a Prairie Schoolerdesign from the 2005 issue of Just Cross Stitch ChristmasOrnaments. The top picture is blurry, but shows up the truercolours. The bottom one is lighter in colour but is also sharper.Well, relatively speaking. Just squint your eyes a bit, make 'emgo cross eyed, and keep looking at the two pictures until theymerge together into one clear picture. Yup. It works especiallywell after a couple of glasses of boozy stuff.

Tomorrow DH and I start the job that everyone hates after theChristmas season is over. Taking down, and packing away, theChristmas ornaments. Ugh! It'll take one day to pack everythingup and store it away. Then another day to clean and get all thenormal nick nacks out of storage and restored to their original places.That is, if I can remember where all of those original places were.

And then, over the next week or so, DH and I will probably keepstumbling across Christmas ornaments that we missed in one roomor another, which then have to be "stored" somewhere until next Xmasseason. One year it took us about a month to notice an ornament thatwas hanging on the door knob of the door that leads to the lower levelof the house. We passed it every day, multiple times a day, but nevernoticed it. Doh!

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Remember I warned you about pictures of the cats appearing on thisblog. Above is Rupert in the bathroom cupboard inspecting thetowels for suitable degrees of fluffiness and softness. Really.

Then we have Phoebe, reacting to the flash on my camera. She'ssitting on her cushion, on the desk, here in the computer room.

Two full days of work so far this week. I expect that tomorrow thingsshould simmer down and I'll be back to part time hours. Good thingtoo because I have chores to do, and haven't been home in decent timeto do them.

It's gotten cold out today. Not Great White North cold, but coldcompared to what we've been having so far this weird winter season.Might even see some snow flurries over night tonight. The one thingthat rain has going for it, that snow doesn't, is that it sounds so lovelyhearing it rain when you're in bed and settling in to sleep. A verysoothing sound. Snow, of course, doesn't make any sound. And yet,having said that, there is a sort of "silence" that I recognize whenwaking up some winter mornings, when I just know before evenlooking out the window that it has snowed.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Yes, I know that Christmas is officially over for this season. But Itook these pictures myself with my new camera (which I may havementioned in previous posts) and I wanted to show them off. Wehaven't taken our decorations down yet. We'll probably do thatnext weekend. I find myself a bit reluctant to take the tree downthis year. I think it's because it is a new tree and looks so pretty. It'sa nice feature in the living room.

The top picture, assuming that the pictures remain in the same line upwhen I post this entry, is of a family group that my talented friend Lindamade for me many years ago. It's a set of her "profile" bears, so calledbecause they are wider on their sides then across their fronts. I don'tremember where she got the pattern for these from, but she used photo-copies to adjust the sizes for a Father, Mother and baby. They are verybeautifully stitched, and are stuffed perfectly. The arms and legs aremovable, with buttons providing the hinging mechanism. She coveredthe buttons with the same fabric that the bears are made out of so thatthey blend right in. The baby is in a little wicker cart, the father has aguitar and the mother plays the drum. I put this set on this side tablein my living room every year and it's one of my most prized Christmasdecorations. I have other pieces that Linda made for Christmas as well.

The bottom picture shows a set that I bought a few years ago of a Grandpaand Grandma bunny reading to their grandkids. This year I placed themon the floor, in small chairs, in front of an antique table and I placed somestring between two of the legs of the table to hang small stockings that myMom knitted for me. It looks kind of cute. You can see the ledge of ourbay window behind the table, with some more of my Christmas stuffies onit.

Friday, January 05, 2007

I don't know which event I'm most excited about...getting stash in themail today.....or that I was able to program my new camera to link withmy computer. So now I can take my own pictures and put them on myblog. How cool is that?? Okay, humour me here folks, I'm not at all a techieperson (just ask Darlene) so arranging it so that my new camera talks tomy old computer, and not blowing either up in the process is a MAJOR accomplishment for me.

So now I can have a visual blog, which is far more entertaining for thepeople who visit here then reading my words, as I tend to blather awaywithout knowing when to stop. I'm still getting to know my camera,and learning how to take the best pictures with it, but knowing I canview thumbnails of each picture that I've taken, and can delete the onesthat I don't like or that don't turn out, gives me a great feeling ofconfidence. It's not like I'm going to be wasting film or paying to havelousy pictures developed.

I have many old back issues of "Cross Country Stitching" but none pastthe year 1996. I have always like this magazine and have found somegreat designs to stitch, in just about every issue. While browsing theirwebsite I found the back issues area and decided to order some of thespecial Alphabet issues. There is some really great stuff in here, and myfingers are tingling in anticipation of stitching some of the designs.

To those who have included admiration and praise for Phoebe in thecomments section, Phee and I say thank you. You are most kind. I'mafraid that many pictures of Rupert and Phoebe are likely to be postedto this blog in the months to come. I tend to be quite the doting "parent"when it comes to my fur babies. You've been warned.

I've been reading a book of short stories called "Cravings". The storiesare all of the "supernatural romance" genre and the writers who contrib-uted to the book are: Laurell K Hamilton (who doesn't seem to concernherself too much these days with the need to actually have anything happenin her stories except to find excuses to get her heroines into bed (and out)with as many men, at once, as possible!!). Maryjanice Davidson, EileenWilks and Rebecca York. I've never read any of the above ladies before,except for Laurell K Hamilton, and I enjoyed their stories very much.